Things to Do in Corinth, Mississippi

This National Park Service site is part of Shiloh National Military Park. The 15,000-square-foot center uses films and interactive exhibits to explain why Corinth’s rail junction mattered, and a memorial garden honors the 1862 battles of Shiloh and Corinth. Entry is free.

★ Good to know The park suggests starting a Shiloh trip here and then following the route Confederate soldiers took to the battlefield. It’s open every day except Thanksgiving, December 25 and January 1.

Union Gen. Grenville Dodge set up this camp for people escaping slavery, and about 6,000 passed through it. It had homes, a church, a school, a hospital and a cooperative farm, and by August 1863 more than 1,000 residents had learned to read. Nearly 2,000 men from the camp formed a Union regiment, later the 55th U.S. Colored Troops.

★ Good to know A quarter-mile walkway leads past six life-size bronze sculptures of the men, women and children who lived here.

The museum sits in the old depot, just feet from tracks that still carry freight trains. Exhibits cover the railroads, the Civil War, aviator Roscoe Turner, baseball’s Don Blasingame and the hot tamale. Outside, you can climb aboard a vintage caboose and see a cannon used at Shiloh.

★ Good to know Railfans can watch trains pass the famous crossing from inside the museum.

The government established this cemetery in 1866 for Union dead from the Battle of Corinth and other fights in the region. By the late 1870s it held more than 5,000 burials, nearly 4,000 of them unknown. It’s part of the Siege and Battle of Corinth Sites National Historic Landmark.

★ Good to know Union soldiers first buried in Columbus’s Friendship Cemetery were moved here in 1867.

Corinth claims the slugburger, and there are no slugs in it. It’s a fried patty of meat stretched with filler like potato flakes, soybeans or flour. Borroum’s Drug Store, founded in 1865 by an Army surgeon, is Mississippi’s oldest operating drug store and soda fountain. White Trolley Café is one of the oldest restaurants in town.

★ Good to know Order it the local way, dressed with pickles, onions and yellow mustard.

Benjamin F. Liddon designed this 1924 movie palace, still the largest theater building in North Mississippi. It hosted vaudeville, films, Grand Ole Opry performers and Elvis Presley. The restored 999-seat hall now hosts film screenings and the Corinth Symphony Orchestra.

★ Good to know Check the event calendar before you go.

Built in 1857, this house served as headquarters for Confederate generals during the Battle of Corinth. Visit Corinth notes it’s where Confederate leaders planned their 1862 attack on Union troops.

★ Good to know Visiting days can be limited, so check with Visit Corinth before you go.

Just across the Tennessee line, Shiloh preserves the April 6-7, 1862, battlefield that sent the Confederate army back to Corinth. A 12.7-mile tour covers the battlefield, and films, artifacts and exhibits fill in the story.

★ Good to know The park also preserves Davis Bridge, the last fight of the Corinth Campaign, about 18 miles northwest of Corinth.